BILLINGS — The Crow language is reaching a new generation in Billings.
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For the first time, Billings Public Schools is offering a Crow language class — and for many students, it's a chance to preserve a culture for the future.
Of the more than 16,000 students in the Billings school system, roughly 2,000 are Indigenous students. For Gemma Hunts Arrow, the languague learning started at home.
"I never understand what my relatives would say, so I'd take... this class so I could understand," Hunts Arrow said.
She is now part of the first group of students learning Crow in a Billings classroom at the Lincoln Center.
"It's really important because like, we're the new generation learning our language again," Hunts Arrow said.
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The class teaches the basics of the language, but also goes far beyond vocabulary.
"We're kind of doing the basics like the ABCs and Crow and then the numbers and like our first lesson is learning like powwows like the regalia," Hunts Arrow said.
Teacher Velma Pretty On Top says that connection to culture is exactly the point. She has watched the number of fluent speakers decline and says the language is now endangered.
"Once the speakers are gone, there's nobody to speak the language. That's why it's considered endangered," Pretty On Top said.
She believes saving the language means teaching the culture alongside it.
"It's about learning their culture, students learning their culture, developing that identity, learning the language, learning the culture," Pretty On Top said.
Students learn about everything from traditional dancing to regalia and ceremonies — building a connection that goes beyond the classroom.
That connection extends to the Crow Fair, where tepees on display require a specific skill to build, and where headdresses known as roaches are fundamental for dancers.
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Back in the classroom, Spoons Parrish says the opportunity to learn his language still feels unreal.
"I was shocked. Like, what? For real, I get to actually like go into class for all semester and learn this? That's insane," Parrish said.
But he says the responsibility that comes with it is real too.
"It's up to the students to be willing and willing to push forward, you know, learn it and know that's like, we need to preserve it," Parrish said.
